The Worst Pokemon Journey Ever!
by Deneir-son
Summary: Zack is a sixteen-year-old boy who is just starting his Pokemon journey. For help and company, he calls on his brother Chad and Chad's friend Lindsay, two much more experienced Trainers. But will it be worth it to put up with their insanity?
1. Chapter 1

This story takes place in the world of Pokémon. Each installment in the tale of this marvelous world involves a Pokémon Trainer, just in the beginning of their journey, saving the land from great evil, making unbreakable bonds of love and friendship with their Pokémon, and becoming the greatest of all Trainers! This…is not one of those tales.

This tale takes place in a region that is home to probably the greatest Trainer of all time, a young man from Pallet Town – the Kanto region. It starts with a boy deciding to set out on his very own Pokémon journey, aided by his much more experience older brother and his brother's best friend. We meet the three Trainers as the sun rises on a new day…

"Look at it," said Chad, gesturing to the sunrise. "It's…DISGUSTING! There is no reason –NONE- for us to be awake this early! My brother had better fucking appreciate this!" Chad, his friend Lindsay, and their Pokémon Lucario and Roserade stood on a hill overlooking the small town south of his hometown of Viridian City, Pallet Town. He was a Trainer who stood at five feet, eight inches tall, and was of average build. He wore his long hair tied into a low ponytail, and it was dyed jet black, and he had hazel eyes, and only the slightest hint of a five-o'clock shadow. He wore black jeans, leather choker-collar, combat boots, fingerless gloves, vest, and trench coat, which he had the sleeves of rolled up to his elbows. Under the vest, he wore a deep-red buttoned shirt, the top two buttons of which were undone and the sleeves also rolled up to his elbows, and a gun-type shoulder holster. The holster wasn't used for any kind of firearm, however; it has his six Poke balls attached to it. On his left bicep he wore a sash that matched his shirt that had the logo of the Pokémon League emblazoned on in black.

Beside him stood his friend and companion since childhood, Lucario. His Lucario didn't look much different from a typical male member of its species, except for having a longer tail and being perhaps an inch taller than what was considered average. What he wore, though, made him more unique: a black-fringed karate jacket with the sleeves torn off, and black karate-style belt, and cloth wrappings around his hands and feet.

"I know, pet," said Lindsay, Chad's best friend and traveling companion from Cinnabar Island. She pet him on the head to comfort him. "It does suck being up this early, but we promised your brother we'd be there this morning to help him on his journey. Besides, we can haz coffeez when we get into town!" She spoke very cheerfully and flashed Chad a smile when she said the last part, and Chad found himself smiling back. Lindsay stood only three inches shorter than Chad, and had a very curvy figure with wide hips and shapely legs. Her hair was short, not even reaching her shoulders, the bangs and upper layers of which were bleached blonde while the rest was as black as Chad's, and she had grey-green eyes behind a pair of rectangular, thick black-framed glasses. She wore a black headband with the logo of the Pokémon League in white on the front of it, black boots, tank top, and fingerless gloves, blue jeans, and a pair of black-and-white-striped sleeves. Around her neck she wore a necklace with her six Poke balls attached to it, almost giving the appearance of Pokémon-themed prayer beads.

As with her friend, she kept a Pokémon, her Roserade, out of its Poke ball to walk along with her. Roserade looked, like Lucario, nearly identical to any typical member of her species except for two features: a beauty mark on its left cheek, and the fact that her eyes were always half-closed in what appeared to be apathetic indifference.

The two trainers also carried traveling bags, and Lindsay carried a six-foot long bamboo walking stick. Tied to the top of the stick with a piece of string was a tag that read "TRUTH." The four made their way down the hill, finally stepping onto a sidewalk, and entered the town. The first stop they made before even heading to Chad's childhood home was at the local Sacred Ash coffee shop, one of the only shops open at six-thirty in the morning, to order what they considered their very life-giving liquid.

Zack awoke with a groan aimed at the alarm clock, which he quickly punched off. He rose to a sitting position, yawning and stretching, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. His grogginess quickly disappeared, however, when he remembered why he was up so early. This was the day that he had finally decided to begin his very own Pokémon journey! He had to be at Professor Oak's research center by eight-o'clock in order to receive his new gear, and he didn't want to miss it. He fumbled around for a moment, searching for the light, before clicking it on. He screamed in shock and terror when he saw the face of his first (and only) Pokémon grinning mischievously at him – the face of his Gastly.

"Holy crap!" he yelled. "Gastly, how many times do I have to tell you not to do that?" Gastly simply laughed and nudged Zack playfully, and Zack also let out a small chuckle. "Anyway, I have to go shower. Today's the big day!"

When he was finished showering and dressing, he shouldered his bag and made his way out the door quietly, not wanting to wake up any of the other patrons of the small motel. Zack, despite being two years younger than Chad, stood taller than his brother at six feet, one inch. He was very wiry, but fit, and had very short sandy-blonde hair, blue eyes, and a short-trimmed beard and mustache. He wore a dark grey hoody with black pinstripes, a white t-shirt beneath it, faded blue jeans, and black-and-white tennis shoes. He and Gastly reached the small parking lot just in time to meet up with Chad, Lindsay, Lucario, and Roserade.

"Hey!" he called to them with a big smile on his face. Chad, Lindsay and the Pokémon returned the smiles, and Chad hugged his brother, as it was the first time they had seen each other in nearly six months. "How's it going, man?"

"Not bad," Chad answered. "How about you?"

"Pretty good! Lindsay, how have you been?"

"Good! Glad to see you again."

"Well," Chad said as the Pokémon greeted each other. "You ready to head out? We need to leave now if we wanna' reach Professor Oak's in time."

"Yep," Zack said. "But we can relax for a bit if we want! I'm taking my car, so we can make it there in about five minutes-" But that was all the more Zack could say. He was cut off by the looks on his friends' faces: anger on Chad's, and shock on Lindsay's.

"NO!" yelled Chad. "NO CAR! THIS IS A POKÉMON JOURNEY, DAMN IT! WE WALK _EVERYWHERE_!" At this, he reached into his trench coat. Zack yelled and dove to the ground before he remembered that the area where Chad was reaching for was where was the location of his Poke balls. His brother threw out a Poke Ball and a Heavy Ball, and out came his two largest Pokémon, Blastoise and Snorlax, respectively. "Blastoise! Snorlax! Trash it!"

And trash it they did. Zack watched in terror as Blastoise head butted his car and blasted it with its water cannons, leaving large holes and shattered windows every time. Snorlax focused on the engine area, crunching it with his teeth and crushing it with his massive bulk. The alarm went off, but only for a few short seconds before the two raging Pokémon silenced it. Lindsay stood with her arms crossed over her chest, nodding in approval.

"Good job," said Lindsay. She and Chad walked over to the pile of scrap that was Zack's car only seconds before, and took a whack at it with her bamboo stick while Chad gave it a strong kick.

"A good job, indeed," Chad agreed. He withdrew his Pokémon back into their balls, and reattached the balls to their holster. "Now! Let's head out!"

"Y-you didn't have to destroy it!" Zack shouted. He followed his brother and friend when he saw they weren't responding. "Geez, we could have just left it here…"

About twenty minutes later, the six companions arrived at the large building that was the research center of Professor Samuel Oak, the Pokémon professor and the world's leading authority on all things Pokémon. The good Professor was waiting for them right at the door, too.

"Good morning!" he called to them in a friendly voice.

"Good morning, Professor!" Zack responded. "How are you doing?"

"Very well, my boy," he said.

"Hey, Professor!" Chad shouted as he jumped in front of Zack. "Remember me? The greatest Trainer ever to set out from your lab?" At that, he showed what could only be described as a "shit-eating" grin.

"Er…" Professor Oak paused for a moment, squinting his eyes and looking closely at Chad. "Red, is that you?" Chad's stupid grin left his face, replaced with a combined look of sadness, shock, and rage.

"RED?" he yelled. "What does that third-rate hack know? I'm a thousand – no! A _million_ times better than that jackass! You'll see! You'll _all_ see, one day! I will _own_ that twerp!" His outburst was complete with waving fists and stomping feet. Lucario turned around, closed his eyes, and shook his head, while Zack and Lindsay looked on quite startled.

"Oh, that's nice," Professor Oak laughed as he walked just inside the research center and came back wheeling a table covered by a white cloth. It was if he never noticed how upset the mention of the legendary Trainer made Chad. "Anyway, it's such a nice spring morning, I thought we'd do the "ceremonies" out here! Now…" With this, the Professor dramatically pulled off the white cloth, revealing a red Pokedex, blue Pokegear, and three Poke balls set neatly on the cart. Each of the balls had a symbol on it: one for grass, fire, and water. Oak picked up the two technological marvels and handed them to Zack. "Now, you get to choose your first official Pokémon League Pokémon! Choose wisely, and listen to what your heart says is the best choice."

"Or just whichever one you think looks coolest," said Chad. Lindsay poked him in the ribs, making him jump and let out a sound like "meep!," though she was giggling lightly as she shushed him. Zack seemed to ignore him, and stepped up to the cart, staring intently at the Poke balls.

"I'll take this one," he said after a few moments concentration. He reached out and grabbed the ball with the grass symbol on it. He turned and pointed it toward the grass, and the ball opened and released his new Pokémon: Bulbasaur. It let out a cry of "Bulba!" and jumped over to Zack, nuzzling happily against his leg. "Haha! I think he likes me!"

"Indeed," said Oak. "Take good care of him, now, as well as your Gastly and any other Pokémon you catch in your travels. Now I'd love to stay and chat, and catch up with Lindsay and…um, this other nice young man, but my teakettle's whistling and I have a wonderful haiku in my head that I must put to paper!" With those last words, the Professor walked inside, laughing as he went.

"Other nice young man?," said Chad. He crouched down and hugged his knees to his chest, mumbling more insults about Red.

"I think that went pretty well," Lindsay said, and Roserade nodded her agreement. "He didn't even wait until we were finished picking our Pokémon to write his haiku when we started our journey; he just pulled out the paper and used Chad's chest as a writing surface." Zack laughed, but slowly stopped when he realized she wasn't joking.

"Yeah," said Chad, suddenly snapping out of his depression. "And besides, Zack complete the "trio." Now we have one of each of the starter Pokémon."

"Cool!" said Zack. "So you guys have Charmander and Squirtle, huh? That's awesome!" Chad and Lindsay gave each other amused looks, finding his implication that they hadn't evolved their Pokémon absurd.

"Anyway," Chad started. "This is a big moment for you, Zack! We're heading out on your big journey, so you have to do the thing!" He sighed and shook his head when Zack raised an eyebrow in question. "Run off to the horizon with your new Pokémon and Gastly! We're headed to our hometown – Viridian City! It's tradition, and it brings this chapter to a dramatic close!"

"Oh, right!" his brother answered. He ran off into the distance, a dumb grin on his face, as Gastly and Bulbasaur followed. Chad and Lindsay followed behind them with Lucario and Roserade.

"Think he'll be dead in three days?" Lindsay asked.

"Honestly, luv, I think three days is a little optimistic," Chad answered.


	2. Chapter 2

Three days after setting out from Pallet Town, Chad, Lindsay, and Zack were finally nearing Viridian City. They could see the city just over the hill, and it was the first time that Chad had seen his hometown in nearly four years.

"So, Chad," Zack said. "I'll bet you're happy to be back home, huh?" He looked over at his older brother with a smile, but a short-lived smile when he saw Chad's face. He looked annoyed, almost angry.

"Yes!" he said. "I AM happy to be home again. In fact, I was happy about it _yesterday_, too! But it's taken us a whole day more to get there because _somebody_ just had to encounter and catch _every_ Pokémon on the way there! What do ya' have to say about _that_, huh?" He began cracking his knuckles and advancing toward Zack, who gulped in worry. Luckily, Lindsay took hold of Chad's arm.

"C'mon, pet," she said, pulling Chad back, now with help from Lucario and Roserade. "He's just being retarded-ly over-excited about just beginning his journey. Right, Zack?" Zack gave Lindsay a look of thanks and sighed, nodding in response.

"Yeah!" he said. "Besides, isn't that the idea of me having a Pokedex? To record the information on every Pokémon there is?" Chad's anger seemed to disappear at hearing the question, and he, Lindsay, Lucario and Roserade looked confused. The confusion only lasted a moment, however, before they burst out laughing. Zack and Gastly exchanged confused looks of their own. "What?"

"Oh, Zack," Chad began. He couldn't continue, however, as he couldn't contain his laughter. Lindsay seemed in control enough to give an explanation, complete with what appeared to be drawings illustrating the story that Roserade presented in a Vanna White fashion.

"You see, Professor Oak did _originally_ build the Pokedex to collect data on all of the Pokémon in the Kanto, and later Johto, regions. But! Two Pokémon trainers, named Red and Ethan, completed these tasks in just less than four years. He's also had colleagues of his complete Pokedexes for their regions to help him out. Really, the Pokedex project ended almost six years ago."

"So…" Zack said, scratching his head and sharing another confused look with Gastly. "Why is he still giving out Pokedexes?" At this point, Chad had brought himself back under control and was able to give the next explanation.

"That's pretty simple, actually," he said. "Every time a person sees another Trainer with a Pokedex, they tend to want one themselves. About four years ago, Professor Oak signed a contract with the Silph Company and Devon Corporation, allowing them to manufacture and produce the Pokedex. Professor Oak gets fifty-percent of all the profits from that." At this point, Zack was staring at his brother wide-eyed with his mouth hanging open.

"You mean I'm just a glorified sponsor?"

"Pretty much," said Lindsay. Zack sighed and slumped his shoulders.

"Whatever," he said. "Let's just get to Viridian. Now."

"Oh, sure!" said Chad, a bit of his annoyance coming back. "_Now_ you wanna' hurry up and get to Viridian! Yes, my liege, let's do _everything_ by _your_ calendar!" His continuing rant spurred a few different responses: Lindsay giggled to herself, Lucario and Roserade looked embarrassed and began conversing with each other, and Zack and Gastly didn't seem to take notice. Luckily for all, it was only another half hour until they walked into the city.

"So," began Zack. "Do you wanna' go visit Mom? I'm sure she's pretty excited about me starting my Pokémon journey!"

"Yeah," said Chad. "But do you remember what that same excitement lead to the day Lindsay and I started our journey?"

Zack paused and thought about what Chad said. Images of his mother bawling her eyes out at one moment, then laughing hysterically the next, all with a bottle of vodka gripped in her hand, came back to him. He visibly shuddered, as did Gastly, seemingly remembering the event himself.

"Good point!" he said. "Let's head over to the Gym! I've been itching to have my first Gym battle!" Chad nodded his agreement without missing a beat, and Lindsay gave him a poke in the side.

"Be nice!" she said. "I mean, I don't wanna' see another one of your mother's drunken break downs, but…well, just be nice!" Chad laughed, and smiled at Lindsay as they headed off for the Gym. As they were only a couple of streets away, Lindsay spoke up again. "You know, Zack, you're lucky. This street caused Chad, Lucario, Roserade and I a collective headache when we walked down it for the first time." Zack responded with an, "Oh?"

"Yeah," Chad said, taking over. "When we passed through, there was some crazy, senile old man who insisted that he had to teach us about catching Pokémon, even though we had both already caught two our-"

"Hey, boy!" a loud, raspy voice interrupted Chad. "Do ya' wanna' know how to catch them there Pokémon?" Chad and Lindsay's faces went pale. They turned, and to their horror, saw the same old man from all those years ago.

"HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?" yelled Chad. Lindsay raised her "Truth Stick" (as she had told Zack it was called). The old man didn't seem to notice either of them, and pointed his cane at Zack.

"Y'see, first ya' run into that there tall grass and find one of the little rascals!" As the senior citizen continued with his tutorial, Chad turned to Zack and said calmly, "Hey, Zack – can you go ahead and meet us at the Gym?"

"But why…?" Zack began to ask, but was interrupted by Chad.

"Just go!" Zack reluctantly agreed, saying, "Come on, Gastly. We'll meet them at the Gym…" The last thing he saw before turning away was Lucario and Roserade suddenly appearing behind the old man, Lucario holding his arms down while Roserade held him by the ankles as Chad and Lindsay closed in on him. Strangely, none of the many people of the city seemed to pay any notice, and no one even flinched when the man's screams and bones breaking filled the air.

"This is gonna' be a long, scary journey, Gastly," Zack said to his trusted friend. Gastly, despite being a type of Pokémon renowned for frightening people, looked frightened himself as he nodded and muttered, "Gas, Gastly…" Once they reached the Gym, however, Zack decided to lighten the mood by making a dramatic gesture.

"All right!" he yelled as he advanced on the large double doors of the enormous building. "I've come to challenge the Gym Lea-" His declaration was cut off as he walked, unexpected, right into the unyielding doors. "Ah! Son of a…!"

He rubbed his nose, which he felt had nearly been broken by the thick glass, and looked at the door along with his ghostly partner. A sign on the other side of the glass read, "Out on official Gym Leader business. Will return in the near future." The sign was simply autographed, "B. Oak." "What the…?" Zack asked to no one in particular.

"Oh, is that jackass out again?" Chad asked. Zack jumped slightly as he hadn't heard his brother, Lindsay, or either of their Pokémon arrive. Zack simply nodded, still rubbing his sore nose.

"Should we really be surprised?" said Lindsay. "We had to come back three different times before we were finally able to challenge the Gym Leader here. I think we're better off just heading to Pewter City first." Chad nodded his agreement, once again visibly annoyed at the situation. Zack assumed that his annoyance was justified this time, though, as Lucario mirrored his annoyed nodding.

"Besides," said Chad. "Brock, the Pewter City Gym Leader, is a really cool guy! It'd be nice to see him again." Lindsay agreed, and Lucario and Roserade both put in enthusiastic cries of, "Cario!" and "Rose!" respectively.

"Sounds good," said Zack. He started fiddling with his Pokegear until he brought up the map function. "Well, it looks like we can either go through the Viridian Forest, or take the road around. I guess the answer's obvious, huh?" Chad and Lindsay nodded, both smiling deviously.

"That's right," said Chad, snickering.

"We take the nice road around," said Lindsay. She then pointed at Zack. "_You_ travel through the Forest and train yourself along the way!" Zack started to stutter an objection, but Lindsay continued. "It's the only way you'll get better! Oh, and you might wanna' make use of that Pidgey you caught. There are a lot of Bug-types in the forest, and neither Bulbasaur or Gastly will do too well against them."

"But Pidgey's still weak," he said. "Can we at least head to the Pokémon Center first?" Chad grabbed his younger brother by the arm and started to drag him along.

"Ya' should've thought of that before we decided where we were going," he said. He reached into a pocket on the inside of his trench coat and pulled out a Potion, which he tossed to Zack. "But, since I'm such a generous brother, I'll lend ya' that Potion. Make it count!"


	3. Chapter 3

Zack ran through the thick, green forest, sweating profusely and gasping for breath. He wasn't sure he was even heading the right way, and nearly ran into several trees when he turned his head to look behind him. Gastly flew beside him, a look of fear on his face matching that of his Trainer's. Finally however, he saw a ray of hope: Sunlight coming in through a gap in the lush trees.

"There's *huff* a way out! ***Gasp!* **We're almost *wheeze* free, Gastly!" Zack managed to reassure his Pokémon. Gastly responded with a labored "Gast!"

In a last moment of desperation, Zack grabbed his ghostly partner and dove the remaining few feet out of the wooded area, landing in a patch of grass on his back with a loud thud. As he released Gastly, and sat up to catch his breath while his eyes adjusted to the new brightness, he heard from the forest:

"Ahhh! The light! So bright!" The cries of anguish were accompanied by grunts and hisses. After a few moments though, the sounds ended, and Zack and Gastly both sighed in relief. Still catching their breath, they looked at each other and chuckled lightly.

"Damn, what happened to you two?" Came a surprised voice from behind them. They turned to see a man who seemed only a couple of years older than Chad, short and thin, with straight dark hair and goatee and glasses, wearing a grey hoodie bearing the logo of the Pokémon League on the left breast area.

"Well," said Zack. "It started yesterday afternoon…"

Zack began his trek through the densely wooded Viridian Forest, looking down in doubt at the Potion in his hand, the Potion that Chad had given him. The Potion that Chad had given him, as he had put it, out of "generosity."

"'Generosity' my ass," he said to Gastly. "I know those two have lots of items that are a lot better than this! Oh well, I guess he's just trying to make sure things aren't too easy. There has to be some challenge, after all." Gastly nodded in agreement, until both turned toward a rustling bush. Out popped a small, hairy yellow worm, with a large, round pink nose and white stinger on its head.

"Ooo! Another chance to use the Pokédex! Let's see…" Zack fished his Pokédex out from his pocket and pointed it at the small creature. An image of the Pokémon appeared on the screen, and the electronic voice announced:

"Weedle – the Hairy Bug Pokémon. It eats its weight in leaves every day. It fends off attacks with the needle on its head."

Zack read over the other displayed information, most notably the area that read: "Type – Bug/Poison." "Well," he said. "I already have two Poison-types, so I don't see much of a point in catching one. But…always a good chance to train up! Bulbasaur won't be very good against a Bug-type, though, so you're up, Gastly!"

The Gas Pokémon rushed forward excitedly, crying out its name as it went. Together, the Trainer and Pokémon quickly found an effective strategy: putting their opponents to sleep with Gastly's Hypnosis, and then taking the opportunity to take down said opponents, even switching out for Bulbasaur once the forced slumber was in effect; unfortunately it didn't work well enough for Zack's recently obtained Pidgey, who fainted after a sleeping Pikachu woke up. However, it was even effective against other Trainers that they encountered, who were all of the Bug Catcher class. They also earned quite a bit of money in the process.

After a good deal of walking and battling, however, Zack noticed that it was getting later into the evening. "Hmm, better set up camp. It'll be dark soon."

"You could come stay in my cottage," came a soft, eerie voice that startled Zack and Gastly both. They turned and saw a man crouched next to a tree lining the path. He looked to be in his early thirties, and very thin and lanky. His clothing looked very old and worn, however, with holes in his sleeveless shirt and shorts; his sandals and straw hat looked like they had been received amateur repair several times. Under that hat, though, were two objects that sent a chill down Zack's spine: Two dark, beady eyes that never seemed to blink.

"Oh," Zack replied. He scratched the back of his head and exchanged an uneasy look with Gastly. "That's, uh…really nice of you. Umm, what's your name?"

"Rick!" the man nearly shouted, jumping to his feet and running over to Zack. He seemed to have developed somewhat of a hunchback, which only added to the unease of the moment. He thrust his hand forward. "My name is Rick! Nice to meet you…?"

"Ah, my name's Zack…" he said, shaking Rick's hand. It was cold and bony, and nearly made Zack shudder a second time. He tried to pull his hand back, but Rick wrapped his other hand around it.

"Very nice to meet you, Zack," he said. A smile formed on his face as he started to lead Zack and Gastly off the beaten path. "My cottage is over here! We'll have a great time! We'll make good food, sing songs, talk about our Pokémon! Oh boy, a new friend!"

"Yeah, man, that's awesome," was all that Zack could manage to say. While he felt awkward about the whole situation, he also felt bad for Rick, since it seemed like he was nice, but had no friends.

After a few minutes of walking, and quite a bit of the sun setting, they came to an old hut in a clearing, which seemed as out of sorts as Rick's clothing. Still, there was a fire pit with a fire already burning in it, and three small logs set around it as seats. Rick rushed inside, and just as quickly rushed back out carrying a pot and several items of food.

"I'm so glad we're friends now," he said. "All of my other friends tried to leave me. They weren't very good friends…" Zack again felt another pang of sympathy, and shrugged at Gastly, who shrugged back (or at least what constituted as a shrug for a Gastly).

"That really sucks, dude," he said. Rick just nodded vigorously, continuing to prepare the pot of food, which seemed to be some kind of stew.

"It's okay, though," the nearly skeletal man said. "I still keep them around. They don't leave me anymore. They're good friends now; good company." This confused Zack and his Pokémon, but they were feeling brave and decided to ask their next question.

"Umm…what do you mean, "keep them around?" Rick turned his head toward the two quickly, a very disturbing grin on his face. Zack gulped in the beginnings of fear.

"Oh, come on," Rick said. "I'll show you! You can see my collection!" His boney hand grabbed Zack by the wrist again, and dragged him behind the hut. Neither Trainer nor Pokémon knew what to expect. Not even in their wildest dreams (or nightmares) could they have predicted what Rick's "collection" was. "Here it is!"

Zack's face paled, and both he and Gastly failed to get gasps out of their mouths. Like an insect collector pinning various insects to the pages of a scrapbook, there was a line of trees with several corpses impaled onto them: several Caterpie, Weedle, Kakuna and Metapod, a Pikachu, two boys, a girl, a man, a woman, and even a human skeleton. Rick looked over at Zack and Gastly, smiling and crossing his arms proudly when he saw their faces.

"Impressed, huh?" he said. "I don't like to brag, but it is a pretty nice collection. But enough of me showing off these old things; it's time to eat!" The two poor, horrified friends allowed themselves to be led back around the hut, and sat on the logs, mechanically eating the stew served to them, their eyes wide and pupils small in terror. Rick rambled on some stories about his life, but they fell on deaf ears, as Zack and his Pokémon wondered if their lives would end in the next few days.

After several more tales of what was surely horror to them, but high adventure to Rick, the deranged Bug Catcher announced it was bedtime. Zack robotically laid his sleeping bag out on the floor inside the hut, and curled up in a fetal position with Gastly next to him. They both shivered as Rick got into his creaking bed, blew out the lantern that was, aside from the moon, the only source of light, and whispered, "Goodniiiiiight!"

After what seemed to be hours, Zack heard Rick start to snore. He looked over to Gastly, glad to see that he was still awake. "Gastly," he whispered. "We have to get out of here! Let's make our way quietly to and out the door, okay?" Gastly nodded and seemed a bit more confident, seeing as he could float soundlessly and not risk waking up Rick personally. It only took them about ten seconds to reach the door, which practically fell off of its hinges, but it felt like an eternity.

"Okay," Zack whispered once they were outside. "Now, let's…RUN LIKE HELL!" And he was off, running at speeds that would put a Rapidash to shame, Gastly flying right next to him. He probably shouldn't have yelled like he did, but in his fear he couldn't help himself. Still, it apparently awoke Rick, as they heard a strangled, guttural cry come from the hut.

"COME BACK!" they heard from behind them. They turned to look, and saw Rick running after them, foaming at the mouth and wildly swinging around an old bug-catching net. The sight spurred on Zack and Gastly, and despite the limitations of their bodies, they somehow managed to run (and fly) even faster.

"Not on your life, you psycho!" Zack called and he bolted through the forest, Gastly sobbing in fear. They ran from the mentally disturbed Bug Catcher all night, every so often finding a place to hide and rest, nearly being caught twice.

"And that's what got us here," Zack said to the man.

"Damn bitch, you serious?" he said, an astounded look on his face. "That is all kinds of crazy! What kind of freak would do something like… Hey, you look familiar. You related to a guy named Chad?" Zack and Gastly both looked even more hopeful than before, hearing that this stranger not only seemed friendly, but knew his older brother!

"Yeah," he said. "My brother's name is Chad! Long black hair, trench coat, collar?" The stranger nodded at it all.

"Yeah, that's him!" he confirmed. "I remember you now! Zack, right? He showed me a picture of you before! I'm EJ!" Zack and Gastly both burst into tears and dove toward EJ, Zack hugging his legs and Gastly rubbing up against them. "Whoa! Take it easy, dude! It's all over now."

"You're right," Zack said. He and Gastly released EJ and stood up. "It's too much of a coincidence that you're here, though. Did you know we were in the forest." EJ nodded in response.

"Yeah, Chad and Lindsay said you were takin' too long to get to Pewter City. They knew I was around the forest and asked me to come get ya' moving." He laughed heartily as he said it all, and turned toward the road, which was only a short distance away. "So what do ya' say? Let's get going?"

The two eagerly replied "yes" and "Gas!" They followed EJ along the road, with Pewter City on the horizon. Once they were back in civilization, Zack though, they would be safe and the world sane once again. Oh, how wrong they were.

**Zack's Pokémon so far!**

**Gastly**

"**Gas Pokémon"**

**#092**

**Type:** Ghost/Poison

**Gender:** Male

**Level:** 12

**Nature:** Quirky

**Ability:** Levitate

**Held Item:** None

**Known Moves:** Hypnosis

Lick

Mean Look

Curse

**Bulbasaur**

"**Seed Pokémon"**

**#001**

**Type:** Grass/Poison

**Gender:** Male

**Level:** 11

**Nature:** Hardy

**Ability:** Overgrow

**Held Item:** None

**Known Moves:** Tackle

Growl

Leech Seed

Vine Whip

**Pidgey**

"**Tiny Bird Pokémon"**

**#016**

**Type:** Normal/Flying

**Gender:** Male

**Level:** 3

**Nature:** Hasty

**Ability:** Keen Eye

**Held Item:** None

**Known Moves:** Tackle


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